Housing & Jobs

The war effort was a powerful stimulus for industrial development. On the
home front, millions of men and women worked in wartime production. Many
relocated from small towns and farms to major metropolitan areas, causing
a severe housing shortage. When hostilities ended in 1945, some people worried
about competing with returning veterans for a shrinking number of jobs.

Demobilization raised two basic questions: where would the ex-GIs live and where
would they work? The GI Bill spoke directly to both issues.

Increasing marriage and birth rates caused a great demand for suburban single-family
houses. Many veterans bought new homes with low-interest mortgages backed by
the federal government.

Employment was addressed in several ways. The most controversial provision of
the GI Bill was the 52-20 Club, named after the weekly $20 payments that unemployed
veterans were entitled to receive for up to 52 weeks. Few veterans actually
remained jobless for an entire year, and by the time this benefit expired, only
one fifth of allocated funds had been spent.

Veterans were also eligible to receive assistance in job placement from state
and local agencies and a stipend plus expenses if they enrolled in approved
vocational, on-the-job, or farm training programs. They could also obtain federally
subsidized small business loans. In North Carolina, many veterans who drew "start-up"
allowances were farmers.

By 1959 more than five million veterans had realized the
American dream of becoming homeowners – thanks to
low-interest mortgages backed by the federal government.
These "VA loans" left their mark on the cityscape. The
mass construction of private houses fueled suburban
growth, stimulated the banking industry, and boosted
demand for consumer goods.

"I secured a job as Assistant Teacher on
the Veterans Farm program, and I kept this job for almost two years.
I liked this job because I was in the field most of the time, and came
in personal contact with the rural population. The men I worked with
lived in hamlets, rural neighborhoods, and on isolated farmsteads.
. . .

My wife came from a broken family and she wanted me to go back to college,
because she knew how hard it is for one person to raise a family without
a college education. I resigned from my job in August 1948 and entered
college at Lees McRae in September of that year. It was very hard for
me after being out of school for eight years, but I studied hard and
made a B average. While attending this college I also ran a small dairy
of my father's, and I formed an All-Star basketball club in which
I had an important social role. After finishing at Lees McRae I decided
to come to N.C. State College and major in Dairy Husbandry."

– Excerpted from an autobiographical essay written by Thomas
P. Dellinger Jr. for Rural Sociology 201, December 1949.

Although the GI Bill is often associated with higher
education, more than twice as many veterans used the
benefits to complete high school or to receive vocational,
farm, or on-the-job training. Shown here are Jim
Spainhour of Greensboro and Robert L. Crowell of
Marblehead, Massachusetts, in the welding shop at the
Morehead City Technical Institute, May 1949. NC
State's pioneer program in engineering extension offered
a one-year, shop-oriented course to students interested
in vocational training.